End of Summer Vacation

The days are getting shorter.  The sun now returns to child sized days.  Bedtime is once again round eight in the evening.

 School starts.  Memories linger.

This summer was one where our family traced the state of Washington in our travels.  Our connection to the land and the people has grown.  We know the trees that are burning across our lands in these awful fires of 2017.   We have traveled by road and by water around our state.

I am full of gratitude for the time we have spent in nature.  Here are a few small memories that I want to preserve.

We camped without any agenda.  Therefore the kids were able to make their own discoveries.  In three days at Lake Wenatchee the boys watched chipmunks, ground squirrels and douglas squirrels eat vine maple seeds, hide in tunnels, chase one another, and munch on doug-fir cones.

They also saw a pileated woodpecker, then two woodpeckers, both eating bugs from beneath the bark of the ponderosa pines.  The boys followed them barefoot.  Then, one ran for a camera, but it was too late.  No photo, but the birds have imprinted themselves on the minds of the children.

A family nature hike deep in the north cascades with song, friendship, and a waterfall as well as bright colors of wildflowers in late afternoon light among the burned out trees from the 2015 Wolverine Fire.

Invented games of pinecone baseball.
Playing catch, then distracted by deer.

The solar eclipse in the zone of totality.

The red sun in these days of wildfires around out state.

Wonder.

Adventure Playground

It has been four years that my children and I have been regularly going to the nearby adventure playground.  Four years of connecting to the beautiful cedar, maple, and fir trees composing a patch of forest on nearby Mercer Island.  Four years of learning how to hammer nails, remove nails, measure boards, and use a level and other tool while participating in and witnessing remarkable creativity.

The trees are marked with memories.  They have witnessed so much, even in just these few years,  these few visits, my kids can point to different parts of the forest and explain what they had built there: They remember building with parents,  grandparents, neighbors and friends old and new.   They have heard numerous language spoken in the forest around them.   They remember the nails, the challenges, the mistakes and successes in each tree, even while new structures are taking their place.

The rules are simple.  No open toed shoes.  Do not take down structures ( they will come down in September when it closes for the year).  Have fun.

Each summer the forest starts out a blank slate.  Each year kids, some the same and many new, move in to build with donated lumber, nails, and imaginations gone wild: forts galore.

My children at age eight are still learning how to build structures.  Nonetheless they have a feeling of confidence as they approach their work.  They are learning to judge what is a safe situation and what is dangerous.  They know how to make a platform for themselves in the woods.  They can work with friends to solve problems and then share cookies and snacks.

I hope these lessons and memories follow them through life.  This is place based hands on learning at its best.  I am so thankful for the Mercer Island Parks and Recreation and their donors for sustaining this program.  I am so thankful for these trees that stand tall and strong withstanding the new structures each year.

Nature Bridge

This past weekend our family attended Nature Bridge Family Camp, nestled at a historic facility in Olympic National Park it feels a bit like a second home as we have been there before.  It makes us happy to see our children so comfortable playing in the meadow, meandering the foot trails and exploring the rivers and waters in a place known by so many since they are part of our public lands.   

We attend Nature Bridge Family Camp to learn through play, build community, connect to nature and the Pacific Northwest and to sustain these amazing organizations that are working in partnerships with our National Parks and our school children.  

This past weekend we explored Tidepools at Salt Creek.  We canoed Lake Crescent in a Salish Style Canoe and we hiked to Marymere Falls.   

We played games including: 

Low Tide High Tide  (barnacle, sea cucumber, sea anemone)

Earth & Atmosphere

Sea Lion/ Seal race

Dolphin Echolocation 

Plus, there was plenty of time for the type of free play that all children need.  Technology was put aside and there was time for new friendships, frisbee, invented ball games, and the exploration of skipping stones in the water.

The nature educators were inspirational and well prepared.  Each activity was well prepped so families were able to experience the tools of scientists, but have the wonder of children power investigations. 

We even sang and had a fireside ceremony.   All quite amazing for a single weekend.  Thank you.